When editing charts with more than one page, the last page system gaps are always shorten than the other ones. I have gone trough the justification rules and I understand how they work, but this is not the case. I also understand that the “avoid collision” feature might turn the gaps uneven, but this is not the case either.
The attached figure shows a chart with 4 systems on the second (last) page and I don’t want them to be justified, which would let too much space between the staves. I rather have the gaps to be the same or at least closer to the page one, but it always comes shorter as shown in the figure.
Because, being the Frame fullness % of that last page, below the threshold/s for the Vertical Justification (in Layout Options/ Vertical Spacing), Dorico doesn’t justify the last page. A fast way to adjust this is to drag (in Engrave Mode) the Music Frame lower edge a little higher, so that the frame shrinks, and the fullness percentage will be so that the threshold will be reached and the justification applies.
For the whole layout you can deactivate Automatically resolve collisions between adjacent staves and systems (in Layout Options/Vertical Spacing/Minimal Gaps), so that only the settings of Ideal Gaps will be applied.
I got your suggestions, Christian. Yesterday I watched the video above and I could not find the exact answer I want yet. The problem is that I don’t want the staves to be justified, but just having the same distance as the previous pages. I wouldn’t disable the Automatically resolve collisions… because this is one of the features I like most in Dorico when comparing to Finale. Anyway, I can visualize that dragging the music frame lower edge a little higher might be a possible solution. Thanks!!!
If you provide an example Dorico file, describing what you want to obtain, I am sure that someone will give you even further suggestions, beside the one above. There are several ways to do things, but the best one depends on the context of a particular situation
Attached you will find an example. The page two has a few systems and I don’t want them to be justified. When clicking on Staff Spacing in Engrave mode, it shows that on page one most of the gaps are 21.5mm, but page two they drop to 17.5mm (except on the second system, which has a rehearsal mark). I would rather have all systems being around the same distance as the page one. If I have a three page file, only the last page will have a shorter gap between staves. Ticket to Ride.dorico (759,1,KB)
By the way, @Christian_R , your suggestion of adjusting the lower edge of the frame worked much better than manually adjusting each system gap.
Beside the method suggested above (of shrinking the music frame for the last page) here another method to obtain, for the last page, staves distances similar to the previous page/s (without justification of the last page):
lock the layout in Engrave mode (this is important, to avoid a change of the casting-off, when we will change the inter-system gaps)
increase the Inter-system gap a little bit in Layout Options
if the staves on the last page justify, increase the first threshold for Vertical Justification so that it is above the frame fullness % of the last page
keep increasing the Inter-system gap, till the staves gaps in the last page are similar to the ones of the previous page (and if the staves justify, increase the first threshold for Vertical Justification again, so that it is above the frame fullness %)
Here a video with this workflow applied to your Project example:
A further different approach would be to use Casting-Off of 4 bars per system in Layout Options, then just move bar 45 to previous system in Engrave mode, and set in Engraving Options the Rehearsal marks to be aligned with system start. This is the result with all other settings left as Dorico factory settings. Clean and easy :
@Christian_R, thank you very much for your time spent to answer my question. The options you gave me, especially the one in the video, are really helpful and will save me some time.